The First Year
by In Darkness Is Light
Summary: She would wake up early in the morning and go to visit them, everyday for the first year. [Sakura and Sasuke, but not SasuSaku]


AN: This is the first Naruto fanfic I've ever written, though I'll probably be writing many more. This story may seem like a bit of me rambling, but I'll probably review it again in a month or so and edit. For the mean time, I would like to let the reader(s) know that this is not a SasuSaku fic and I believe that will become evident as you read more.

Hope you enjoy and please review!

Oh, and the Disclaimer: This piece of fanfiction is all I own.

* * *

She would wake up early in the morning and go to visit them, everyday for the first year.

They were **his **parents. His deceased parents. And yet, everyday she'd gone to visit them, talking to them for what was sometimes hours and sometimes minutes. Most of the times it would be before training, before anyone of the villagers were awake.

Sakura knew that talking to dead people, much less dead people who were related to **him **was probably not one of the most sane things to do but she felt that it gave her comfort, felt like she still had some connection to him.

Most times she visited, Sakura would bring a single flower, and it was always the most expensive one at the flower shop. If she were to present herself to his parents, she felt she should make a good first impression, even if they were dead.

The first day she went to see them was the day after he'd left. She'd woken up early in the morning and while she didn't know where she was going, she let what she felt was a higher power leading her there. Upon reaching their grave, she had sat down on the bench in front of it and twiddled her thumbs for a good ten minutes. Finally, managing to convince herself she wasn't insane for doing this, she'd begun talking to them.

"Hello," were the first words she shyly uttered to them, "my name is Sakura Haruno."

She paused, waiting for the reply that she knew would never come.

She continued. "I'm a friend of your son, Sasuke."

"I just wanted to let you know what's going on." And so the storytelling adventure began.

She had started off by telling them how lovely and handsome their son had grown and how his performance at the academy was well known and he'd earned himself a reputation to be proud of. She briefly mentioned how all the girls in the academy had a crush on him, she included. She'd described to them his current features, though if they had been watching over him from the heavens, they probably already knew what he looked like.

That had been the first day. Now she mainly told them stories of his heroism and strength on missions, his skilful abilities to hold weapons and girls' hearts effortlessly at the same time, and how he had done at the Chuunin examinations. The stories, she was surprised to find, took her a fairly long time to tell and only after a year would she finish them.

She hadn't stopped going just because she ran out of stories. In fact, she was sure that there were minor events that she had missed or things that she could go more in-depth about, like her love for him. There were also other reasons like more hours in her day were devoted to training, and she was constantly off on some mission or other. But the main reason was that she felt she needed to stop.

The first year after Sasuke left had been very hard for her, full of flashbacks and memories constantly playing over and over again in her head. For a girl to be in love at such a young age, she felt the pain of his departure as pangs of sorrow, anger and guilt in her heart. She was forced to wonder on and off if whether maybe she had been stronger at the time or more convincing, he would have stayed.

In her mind, she knew that that was just some delusion she both enjoyed and hated having; she knew that no matter what, that night, his mind had been made up to leave and nothing she could have done would have changed that.

But that was a year ago and this was now. Now, she realized that all the things she'd been blaming herself for weren't really her fault and she realized that it was time to at least try to get over him. He didn't love her back, of that she was pretty sure and he was gone now, probably not returning anytime soon, so she needed to move on with her life and stop fussing over his. This didn't mean that she didn't still love him; it was just that she was strong enough to not let it get to her…as much.

And that's exactly what she had told his parents that day. It started off with the usual, now comfortable, greeting. "Hey, it's me again. Time for another update."

Then, the topic had gotten into rough territory. "So, all this time I've been telling you about how wonderful and special your son is, but there's another story, my final story, that I must tell."

Of course, that story was darker and included every horrible thing from the time that Orochimaru bit him until the time he had left. Sakura felt bad doing this to people she felt like she'd developed a bond with, but if they hadn't known already, they needed to.

"I'm sorry to have to tell you these unpleasant and unfortunate tales all in one sitting, but I think you need to know. Also…this is the last time I will be coming here, probably. As I've told you, I care about your son very much but I've realized that he's not coming back anytime soon, and I need to get on with my life. I need to prove to myself that I can be strong, even without him, and if I can do that, I feel like I really have a chance to save him. So please, don't think that I'm doing this out of selfishness for myself, but rather, out of love for both him and myself. I'm sorry we couldn't meet in this lifetime face to face, but I'll help out with Sasuke as much as I can. That's a promise."

She left a single white rose on their tombstone, and gave it a small smile. "I have to go to training now, but it was a pleasure meeting you."

Bowing, as though she were in front of two esteemed superiors, Sakura left their resting place for the last time.


End file.
